We caravanned the nine hours from Sun Valley, ID to Zion National Park in Utah, all in one straight shot then spent three days in a row hiking some famous terrain:
Kanarraville Falls
The Barracks
Angel’s Landing
Kanarraville Falls
Friday afternoon after the long drive we went to Kanarraville Falls on the East side of the park. Luckily, Moose had an extra pair of neoprene socks for me to borrow because the water was ice cold. It was a fun hike up, even though they recently replaced the sketchy stairs with a huge stainless steel structure that seemed to meet modern building codes. I’d prefer they kept trails more wild.
We camped near a BMX dirt track and then got up bright and early to make the drive on beautiful Mount Caramel Highway, one of the 184 National Scenic Byways in the country.
The Barracks
We stashed Moose’s car near Checkerboard Mesa then continued on to Caramel Junction and hit the ground running to hike The Barracks! It is a 20 mile slot canyon that is very similar to the more famous “Narrows” hike in Zion but without the crowds or the need for permits. It was amazing. There were so many beautiful rocks, river crossings, and one insane death waterfall that had us thinking we would have to climb out of the canyon to get around. The first stretch followed a 4x4 road that leads to a popular hill climb that Jeep people frequent, so we were happy to get passed that and leave the gas fumes behind. We took a side quest up Mineral Gulch, found a cave, took a lunch break inside, and then returned to the main canyon.
The canyon got narrower, the walls grew taller, and the current became swifter. We then got to a narrow slot with a six foot waterfall dropping down to rocks below. It looked completely impassable without ropes and gear but luckily there was a secret cave to bypass it.
15 MIN EXTENDED VIDEO OF THE HIKE
(and a 5-minute highlight real below)
ANGELS LANDING
The next day we needed a rest, so we hiked Angel’s Landing which has 1,600ft of elevation gain in 2.6 miles on the way up as well as quite a few sketchy bits with 100+ foot cliffs on either side of a narrow walkway. It was the weekend, so it was crowded, and not many folks are pro-hikers like Moose and I. This led to some frustration when traffic jams formed behind timid hikers who could not scurry up the rocks or froze up with fear.
